I cover demographic, social and economic trends around the world. I am the R.C. Hobbs Professor of Urban Studies at Chapman University in California and executive editor of newgeography.com. My forthcoming book, The New Class Conflict, will be published by Telos in September.

Is Perestroika Coming In California?

When Jerry Brown was elected governor for a third time in 2010, there was widespread hope that he would repair the state’s crumbling and dysfunctional political edifice. But instead of becoming a Californian Mikhail Gorbachev, he has turned out to be something more resembling Konstantin Chernenko or Yuri Andropov, an aged hegemon desperately trying to save a dying system.

As with the old party bosses in Russia, Brown’s distinct lack of courage has only worsened California’s lurch toward fiscal and economic disaster. Yet as the budget woes worsen, other Californians, including some Democrats, are beginning to recognize the need for perestroika in the Golden State. This was most evident in the overwhelming vote last week in two key cities, San Diego and San Jose, to reform public employee pensions, a huge reversal after decades of ever more expansive public union power in the state.

California’s “progressive” approach has been enshrined in what is essentially a one-party state that is almost Soviet in its rigidity and inability to adapt to changing conditions. With conservatives, most businesses and taxpayer advocates marginalized, California politics has become the plaything of three powerful interest groups: public-sector unions, the Bay Area/Silicon Valley elite and the greens. Their agendas, largely unrestrained by serious opposition, have brought this great state to its knees.

California’s ruling troika has been melded by a combination of self-interest and a common ideology. Their ruling tenets center on support for an ever more intrusive, and expensive, state apparatus; the need to turn California into an Ecotopian green state; and a shared belief that the “genius” of Silicon Valley can pay for all of this.

Now this world view is foundering on the rocks of economic reality. The Soviet Union armed itself to the teeth and sent cosmonauts into space while the public waited on line for toothpaste and sausages. Similarly, Californians suffer from a combination of high taxes and intrusive regulation coupled with a miserable education system — the state’s students now rank 47th in science achievement — and a rapidly deteriorating infrastructure.

The current recession has been particularly severe, continuing at a more acute level than in most states, including places like Florida and Arizona, which also suffered greatly from the housing bust. California now has the third highest unemployment rate in the U.S., beating out only its co-dependent evil twin Nevada and Rhode Island. At the same time, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California study, inequality in the devoutly “progressive” state has been growing much faster than in the rest of the country.

The most auspicious sign of grassroots support for perestroika was last week’s smack down of public employee unions in San Jose and San Diego. For the first time in recent memory, the unions suffered a humiliating defeat — the measures passed by a margin greater than two to one — as voters endorsed deep reform of the pension burdens bringing these cities to the brink of bankruptcy. Backed by its Democratic mayor, Chuck Reed, San Jose’s measure B aims to reduce pension benefits for both future and current hires. Unsurprisingly, the public employee have threatened to sue.

This may precipitate what could become the California equivalent of a prairie fire. Like San Jose and San Diego, many other California cities are on the verge of bankruptcy. Union-dominated Los Angeles could be the next big domino to fall, according to the city’s own chief administrative office, and has been forced to boost its bonded indebtedness and cut back on critical infrastructure spending to stave off the inevitable.

As services drop and taxes rise — California’s already are among the nation’s highest — voters increasingly realize that one of the main problems is over-generous pensions for public sector workers. This is reflected in the sad reality that the state consistently competes with Illinois for the worst bond rating in the country. Most recently, the state upped its deficit estimate to $16 billion from a $9.2 billion estimate made just in January.

Brown could have used this mounting crisis to reveal his inner Gorbachev. But instead, he has so far chosen a classic Chernenko-Andropov muddle. He proposed a mild pension reform but could not persuade his own party — aware that vengeful the unions will be around long after the old man is gone — to consider it.

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Ted – you are more right that you can possibly imagine. Wealthy liberals despise the ‘common’ people. And Democratic policies are creating – purposly – a three class society – lots of poor, the bureaucrats/government workers – party apparatchiks, and a few wealthy. This is the Democratic paradise – sound familiar? Better get used to waiting on long lines for consumer goods (like razor blades).

I don’t think they do it on purpose and consider themselves as supporters of the middle class. But the results are the same, in many other places too. High tax, liberal policies really raise the cost of living, and do other things like reduce good paying manufacturing jobs for blue collar workers. The high tax, highly regulated economy they favor works ok for software developers and other members of the information economy, but not for the working class. Because these people are not personally affected by the bad policies they support, they aren’t aware of the damage they cause.

Renewed hope for recovering the state’s former greatness? What nonsense. A key part of what made California great was affordable property based on a manageable population density. That was sixty years ago. There is no way for the population to return to fifteen million. Today, teachers, firemen, police, university students and others face housing costs (adjusted for inflation) double what they were in the 1950s. Higher housing costs drive higher salaries of public employees, and in turn drive higher taxes. Look it up, do the math.

The revolution to save California is coming from smaller communities and rural areas most impacted by the collapsing economy and insane regulations from Sacramento. We don’t care about Silicon Valley, Hollywood or venture capitalists throwing money at 24-year-old kids. We care about government wanting more money for fewer services, closed parks and crowded schools. The shift is on in NorCal and will spread to the rest of the State as we are presented with more hideously stupid tax increase proposals.

Gee whiz – the Democratic model of governing doesn’t work! Who would have thought?

Look, the Democratic Party – the most corrupt entity on the planet – does not care about governing. You make a mistake in thinking that these people want prosperity – they don’t. They know that high taxes, burdensome regulations, criminalized communities, shattered families means that Republicans leave the state and those that remain vote Democrat. Plus, if people leave more people can be imported and immigrants usually vote democrat in the mistaken – very mistaken belief that Democrats are pro-poor people.

Democrats are for poor people only if the objective is continued poverty.

The unholy alliance of Democrats and public unions (by the way how is it that the law allows public unions to make political donations – must have been a democratic idea) means that Democrats get taxpayer funding for elections. That means they never lose since the Republicans will never be able to match what Democrats are able to do.

Until of course, the Detroitification of California gets underway, which is what we have now.

But people should learn – Democrats are the most corrupt organization on the planet. They can’t govern well since the organization is institutionally corrupt. Think about that next time you vote.

Jerry Brown is not the man I remember when I started work for the State under his administration 31 years ago. Where is the innovation, the vision? After Schwarzenegger left I thought things would change, a new beginning. Unfortunately, the corporate culture has not changed one bit under Jerry Brown, it is like Arnold Schwarzenegger never left office in terms of how the day to day State administration runs.

I have urged governor Brown to reach out to the rank and files to help cut the red tape. We hate red tape as much or more than anyone, we have to wade through this gauntlet of internal red tape every day. It is the administration’s management and the overpriced consultants who love the red tape.

Give us rank and files a chance to have a seat at the table with management to work on cutting the needless red tape Only together as a team, rank and files and management, can we change the way State government does business for the better for all of Californians. The politics of division, us and them, unions and management, has to change. The economy sucks, and we must work together to cut the red tape to help business, not regulate them to death. Our general prosperity will never improve unless we cut the government red tape.

Joel. I see absolutely no hope for California with Obama, Jerry Brown, the environmentalist is charge. Its a wacko state. They keep getting deeper and are hoping we will keep voting democrat. Not gonna happen.

If you want to know if there is any hope for CA all you have to do is look at a Presidential Preference polls between Obama and Gov Romney in California. The most recent Field poll had Obama up 16 points over Gov Romney, and other polls gave Obama an even bigger lead. That tells you all you need to know. Obama is the extreme left wing architect, at a national level, of what CA has been doing to itself for 2 decades. More debt, more trillions spent on public employee unions, on extreme left wing interests groups, on green insanity like Solyndra, and green jobs that cost 2 million a job. CA had a chance to recover in 2010, but it rejected recovery and voted for Gov Moonbeam, and the worst most extreme left wing Senator in Senate History, Senator Boxer. So of course eveything has gotten worse in CA. They voted for more debt, more waste, and more taxes and that’s what they are getting. And the fact that they pretty overwhelmingly support Obama doing the exact same thing to our nation shows that there is no hope. Anyone in CA that works hard for a living or owns a business can stay and let the democrats, public employee unions, and extreme left suck the life blood from them, or they can leave. Its that simple. The vast majority of Californian’s like the mess they’ve created and are voting to make it worse in their state, and by supporting Obama to inflict it on the rest of us. So let them bleed the richest state in the nation and each other dry!